Scheme for realizing communications through external network from contents processing device connected to local network in home environment

ABSTRACT

A scheme for realizing communications through an external network such as telephone network from a contents processing device such as AV device or PC connected to a local network such as home network is disclosed. The contents processing device solicits a set up of connection to the server device through the telephone network, to a gateway device which is connected with both the home network and the telephone network. Then, the gateway device carries out a call set up with respect to a specified address on the telephone network, upon receiving the solicitation from the contents processing device, and transfers data transmitted from the contents processing device to a connection established by the call set up, and data arriving from the connection established by the call set up to the contents processing device.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This is a divisional application of application Ser. No. 09/223,812,filed Dec. 31, 1998 now U.S. Pat. No. 6,665,303. This application isbased upon and claims the benefit of priority from Japanese PatentApplication No. 10-000350, filed Jan. 5, 1998, the entire contents ofwhich are incorporated herein by reference.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

The present invention relates to a contents processing device for whichthere is a need to carry out communications with a server device locatedoutside a local network to which the contents processing device isnormally connected, and a gateway device for providing a service tomediate such communications on behalf of the contents processing device.

2. Description of the Background Art

Recently the rapid progresses of communication technology such asInternet and digital technology such as DVD (Digital Video Disk) areattracting much attentions from a variety of fields. These technologiesare beginning to spread beyond the field of information communication tofields such as broadcasting, AV (Audio Visual) devices, home appliances,etc., and it is expected that the merging of various fields mentionedabove will also progress rapidly in future.

In particular, even for a home where no sophisticated communicationtechnology has been necessary up until now, the above noted progress ofthe communication technology is giving rise to new technologies such asapplications to the data communication technology based on advance ofthe modem technology, to the home network technology such as IEEE 1394,etc.

Now, when further progresses in the digitalization and the networking ofAV devices are made in future, there will arise a problem regardinghandling of digital contents. Namely, there will be problems of impropercopying or improper processing of the digital contents.

For this reason, there has been a proposition of a scheme for applyingthe cryptographic techniques to the above noted digital contents suchthat replay of digital contents is permitted only to those devices whichare registered in advance.

There has also been a proposition of a scheme called Divx scheme inwhich the fact that the contents have been replayed is remembered by theAV device and a log history is notified to a charging server later on soas to realize the charging with respect to the replay, in addition tothe above noted replay permission control. There are also manypropositions of various other schemes such as a scheme for permittingreplay only when the replay condition is satisfied, a scheme forpermitting replay by obtaining a permission from an external licenseserver even when the replay condition is not satisfied, and so on.

These schemes require the AV device to have a network function such thatthe required procedure can be carried out as the AV device carries outcommunications with a license server/charging server located on a publicnetwork.

Also, many of the future AV devices such as Internet TV and push buttonnews delivery are expected to be those that presuppose the networking.Presently, a telephone network is the only available networkinfra-structure that is sufficiently developed up to the homeenvironment, so that it is reasonable to expect that the communicationswith servers such as license server, charging server, news server, WWWserver, etc. will be carried out through the telephone network exceptfor some highly advanced environment.

However, the future AV devices to be introduced into the home areexpected to have interfaces to a home network such as IEEE 1394. If sucha future AV device is also to be connected to the telephone network asdescribed above, it would become necessary to provide wirings for thehome network and wirings for the telephone network connection so thatthe future AV device would inevitably become very complicated.

The same problem also arises when there is a need for a device connectedto a local network to carry out communications with another devicethrough a network other than that local network.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a gatewaydevice which enables a contents processing device such as AV device thatis connected to a local network such as home network to carry outcommunications through an external network such as telephone networkeven when no interface to the external network is provided in thecontents processing device.

It is another object of the present invention to provide a contentsprocessing device such as AV device which is capable of carrying outcommunications with an external network such as telephone network bybeing connected to a local network such as home network even when nointerface to the external network is provided therein.

According to one aspect of the present invention there is provided agateway device, comprising: a first network interface for connection toa home network; a second network interface for connection to a telephonenetwork; a call set up unit for carrying out a call set up with respectto a specified address on the telephone network, upon receiving asolicitation for a call set up with respect to the specified address onthe telephone network from a contents processing device connected to thehome network; and a transfer unit for transferring data transmitted fromthe contents processing device to a connection established by the callset up, and data arriving from the connection established by the callset up to the contents processing device.

This gateway device can be a home gateway, for example. The contentsinformation device can be an AV device such as DVD player or a PC, forexample. The home network can be a local network such as that of IEEE1394 bus, for example. The telephone network can be a public network ingeneral, and the address on the telephone network can be given by atelephone number. The address specified by the contents processingdevice can be that of the license server, for example.

In this aspect of the present invention, it becomes possible for thecontents processing device to carry out communications with the serverdevice indicated by the specified address on the telephone networkthrough the home network, so that it is not absolutely necessary for thecontents processing device to have an interface to the telephone network(public network interface) and therefore it is possible to realize aconsiderable simplification of network wirings.

Also, in this gateway device, the call set up unit may receive thesolicitation made by the contents processing device which has a need tocommunicate with the specified address in order to process a specificcontents information.

Here, the need to communicate with the specified address arises, forexample, when there is a need to obtain a permission (such as that givenby charging or that given by license contract) for applying someprocessing such as decryption or replay to a specific contentsinformation at the contents processing device, and this permission is tobe obtained by communicating with the license server through thetelephone network.

Also, this gateway device may further comprises a notification unit fornotifying that the gateway device is in a state capable of responding tothe solicitation, through the home network.

For example, when the second network interface is not connected to thetelephone network, this gateway device is not in a state capable ofresponding to the solicitation, so that this notification is not made.

This notification can be made from this gateway device to the devicesconnected to the home network either actively by using the servicelocation protocol, for example, or passively by writing information tobe notified into an IEEE 1212 register, for example (so as to create astate where a device connected to the home network can learn thisinformation by accessing the IEEE 1212 register).

In this way, the contents processing device can recognize the case whereit is possible to make the connection to the telephone network throughthis gateway device and the case where it is not.

According to another aspect of the present invention there is provided acontents processing device, comprising: a network interface forconnection to a home network; a protocol processing unit for executingprotocol processing for communications with a server device through atelephone network; a solicitation unit for soliciting a set up ofconnection to the server device through the telephone network, to agateway device which is connected with both the home network and thetelephone network; and a contents processing unit for processingcontents information according to the communications with the serverdevice.

In this contents processing device, this protocol processing unit cancarry out the prescribed procedure by communicating with the serverdevice through the gateway device even when the contents processingdevice does not have an interface to the telephone network.

This contents processing device can be an AV device such as DVD playeror a PC, for example. The server device can be a license server, forexample, and the gateway device can be a home gateway, for example. Thehome network can be a local network such as that of IEEE 1394 bus, forexample, and the telephone network can be a public network in general.The address on the telephone network can be given by a telephone number.

In this aspect of the present invention, the communications with theserver device can be carried out through the home network, so that thereis no need to provide an interface to the telephone network (publicnetwork interface) in this contents processing device and therefore itis possible to realize a considerable simplification of the deviceconfiguration. In addition, it becomes possible to solicit a set up ofconnection to the server device with respect to the gateway device, sothat this contents processing device and the server device can beconnected through the home network, the gateway device, and thetelephone network and it becomes possible to carry out mutualcommunications through them.

Also, this contents processing device may further comprises anadditional network interface for connection to the telephone network;and a Judgement unit for Judging whether the communications with theserver device through the additional network interface is possible ornot; wherein the solicitation unit solicits the set up of connection tothe server device through the telephone network and the protocolprocessing unit carries out the communications with the server devicethrough the gateway device, when the judgement unit Judged that thecommunications with the server device through the additional networkinterface is not possible.

In this case, it becomes possible to carry out the communications withthe server device through the home network so that the communicationscan be carried out through the telephone network when it is connected tothe telephone network or through the home network when it is notconnected to the telephone network.

In addition, the gateway device can establish the connection to theserver device, so that this contents processing device and the serverdevice can be connected through the home network, the gateway device,and the telephone network and it becomes possible to carry out mutualcommunications through them.

Also, in this contents processing device, the protocol processing unitmay carry out a prescribed procedure using the communications with theserver device in order to obtain a permission to process a specificcontents information, when a need to obtain a permission to process thespecific contents information arises.

The specific contents information can be contents information such asvideo image, still image, audio, text file, program, etc., and theprocessing can be decrypting, replaying, displaying, reading, storing,copying, executing, etc.

Also, in this contents processing device, the contents processing unitmay read out the specific contents information from a prescribed storagemedium, and the protocol processing unit may obtain an addressinformation of the server device which is to be used in setting upconnection to the server device, which is recorded along with thespecific contents information in the prescribed storage medium.

In this way, it becomes possible to require the charging or the licensecontract in conjunction with the reading or the copying, for example, inorder to protect the copyright of the specific contents information. Inaddition, it becomes possible to specify different server devices fordifferent storage media.

Also, in this contents processing device, the protocol processing unitmay authenticate the address information using an authenticationinformation for the address information which is also recorded in theprescribed storage medium, before obtaining the address information.

The authentication information is obtained by encrypting the addressinformation or a digest of the address information using a prescribedkey.

In this way, it becomes possible to recognize whether the addressinformation is a proper one or not, that is, whether it is a properaddress information written by an organization which manufactured orproduced the storage medium, so that the user can avoid a possibility ofsetting up a connection to an incorrect server device and receivingunnecessary charges.

Also, in this contents processing device, the protocol processing unitmay obtain the address information by decrypting an encrypted addressinformation which is recorded in the prescribed storage medium.

The address information is encrypted using the master key that is safelystored inside this contents processing device, for example.

In this way, it becomes possible to conceal the location of the addressinformation, so that the unnecessary traffic to the server device can bereduced, and damages due to the so called misdialing to the serverdevice or the annoying calls (annoying accesses) can be reduced.

Also, in this contents processing device, the protocol processing unitmay execute the protocol processing by executing a communicationprotocol program which is recorded in the prescribed storage mediumalong with the specific contents information.

In this way, it becomes possible to require the charging or the licensecontract in conjunction with the reading or the copying, for example, inorder to protect the copyright of the specific contents information. Inaddition, it becomes possible to carry out the procedure for thecharging or the license contract using different communication protocolsfor different server devices or different storage media.

Also, in this contents processing device, the protocol processing unitmay execute the communication protocol program by decrypting anencrypted communication protocol program which is recorded in theprescribed storage medium.

The communication protocol program is encrypted using the master keywhich is safely stored inside this contents processing device.

In this way, it is possible to conceal the communication protocolalgorithm, so that it becomes possible to reduce the improper access tothe server device or improper license updating by improper procedurewith respect to the storage medium.

Also, in this contents processing device, the protocol processing unitmay execute the protocol processing by executing one communicationprotocol program that is executable at the contents processing deviceamong a plurality of communication protocol programs of identicalfunction written in different programming languages which are recordedin the prescribed storage medium along with the specific contentsinformation.

The programming languages can be JAVA, visual basic script, etc.

In this way, even when it is not possible to anticipate the type of thesoftware platform of the contents processing device at which the storagemedium is to be utilized, it becomes possible to deal with a pluralityof potential platforms, so that it is possible to enhance a range of thecontents processing device at which the storage medium can be utilized.

Also in this contents processing device, the protocol processing unitmay execute said one communication protocol program by decrypting acorresponding one encrypted communication protocol program which isrecorded in the prescribed storage medium.

The communication protocol program is encrypted using the master keywhich is safely stored inside this contents processing device.

In this way, it is possible to conceal the communication protocolalgorithm, so that it becomes possible to reduce the improper access tothe server device or improper license updating by improper procedurewith respect to the storage medium.

Also, in this contents processing device, the contents processing unitmay utilize contents information recorded in a prescribed storage mediumwhen a replay condition recorded in the prescribed storage medium issatisfied or when a permission regarding contents informationutilization is obtained through a prescribed procedure.

In addition, this contents processing device may further comprises: anextraction unit for extracting an address information of the serverdevice to be communicated with in order to obtain the permission whenthe replay condition recorded in the prescribed storage medium is notsatisfied; wherein the solicitation unit solicits the set up ofconnection to the server device according to the address informationextracted by the extraction unit, and the protocol processing unitcarries out the prescribed procedure for obtaining the permission fromthe server device through the connection established by the gatewaydevice in response to a solicitation by the solicitation unit.

In this way, it becomes possible to require the charging or the licensecontract in conjunction with the reading or the copying, for example, inorder to protect the copyright of the contents information recorded inthe storage medium. In addition, it becomes possible to specifydifferent server devices for different storage media.

Also, in this contents processing device, the protocol processing unitmay carry out the prescribed procedure by executing a communicationprotocol program which is recorded in the prescribed storage mediumalong with the contents information.

In this way, it becomes possible to require the charging or the licensecontract in conjunction with the reading or the copying, for example, inorder to protect the copyright of the contents information recorded inthe storage medium. In addition, it becomes possible to carry out theprocedure for the charging or the license contract using differentcommunication protocols for different server devices or differentstorage media.

According to another aspect of the present invention there is provided agateway device, comprising: a first network interface for connection toa local network; a second network interface for connection to anexternal network; a call set up unit for carrying out a call set up withrespect to a specified address on the external network, upon receiving asolicitation for a call set up with respect to the specified address onthe external network from a contents processing device connected to thelocal network; and a transfer unit for transferring data transmittedfrom the contents processing device to a connection established by thecall set up, and data arriving from the connection established by thecall set up to the contents processing device.

According to another aspect of the present invention there is provided acontents processing device, comprising: a network interface forconnection to a local network; a protocol processing unit for executingprotocol processing for communications with a server device through anexternal network; a solicitation unit for soliciting a set up ofconnection to the server device through the external network, to agateway device which is connected with both the local network and theexternal network; and a contents processing unit for processing contentsinformation according to the communications with the server device.

According to another aspect of the present invention there is provided agateway device, comprising: a first network interface for connection toa first network; a second network interface for connection to a secondnetwork different from the first network; a call set up unit forcarrying out a call set up with respect to a specified address on thesecond network, upon receiving a solicitation for a call set up withrespect to the specified address on the second network from a contentsprocessing device connected to the first network; and a transfer unitfor transferring data transmitted from the contents processing device toa connection established by the call set up, and data arriving from theconnection established by the call set up to the contents processingdevice.

According to another aspect of the present invention there is provided acontents processing device, comprising: a network interface forconnection to a first network; a protocol processing unit for executingprotocol processing for communications with an external device through asecond network different from the first network; a solicitation unit forsoliciting a set up of connection to the external device through thesecond network, to a gateway device which is connected with both thefirst network and the second network; and a contents processing unit forprocessing contents information according to the communications with theexternal device.

It is to be noted that the present invention as described above in termsof the gateway device and the contents processing device may beconstrued in terms of methods of operations in the respective devices.Also, the gateway device and the contents processing device of thepresent invention may be realized in forms of computer readablerecording media recording programs for causing the computer to executethe operations in the respective device by controlling appropriatehardware.

Other features and advantages of the present invention will becomeapparent from the following description taken in conjunction with theaccompanying drawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a schematic block diagram showing an exemplary overallconfiguration of a network system according to one embodiment of thepresent invention.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing an exemplary internal configuration ofa DVD player in the network system of FIG. 1.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing an exemplary configuration of informationrecorded on a DVD to be set on the DVD player of FIG. 2.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing an exemplary format of a license serveraddress description that can be used in the information shown in FIG. 3.

FIG. 5 is a flow chart of an exemplary connection set up procedure by atelephone server procedure unit in the DVD player of FIG. 2.

FIG. 6 is a sequence chart of an exemplary communication sequence to beused in the network system of FIG. 1.

FIG. 7 is a flow chart of an exemplary operation sequence of the DVDplayer of FIG. 2 according to the communication sequence of FIG. 6.

FIG. 8 is a flow chart of an exemplary operation sequence of a homegateway in the network system of FIG. 1 according to the communicationsequence of FIG. 6.

FIG. 9 is a flow chart of a service registration procedure at a homegateway in the network system of FIG. 1.

FIG. 10 is a block diagram showing an exemplary internal configurationof a home gateway in the network system of FIG. 1.

FIG. 11 is a diagram showing another exemplary configuration ofinformation recorded on a DVD to be set on the DVD player of FIG. 2.

FIG. 12 is a diagram showing another exemplary configuration ofinformation recorded on a DVD to be set on the DVD player of FIG. 2.

FIG. 13 is a diagram showing another exemplary configuration ofinformation recorded on a DVD to be set on the DVD player of FIG. 2.

FIG. 14 is a block diagram showing another exemplary internalconfiguration of a DVD player in the network system of FIG. 1.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

Referring now to FIG. 1 to FIG. 14, one embodiment of the presentinvention will be described in detail.

FIG. 1 shows an exemplary overall configuration of a network systemaccording to one embodiment of the present invention.

First, an exemplary case of using IEEE 1394 bus as a local network 104as shown in FIG. 1 will be described. Note that this local network 104can be a network provided in any organization or location, but thefollowing description will be directed to a specific case where thelocal network 104 is a home network provided in some home for the sakeof concreteness.

Now consider a case where a device for handling some kind of contentssuch as AV device or computer (which will be referred to as a contentsprocessing device hereafter) is connected to the local network, andsuppose that this contents processing device has a need to communicatewith another device through a network (external network) other than thislocal network, besides having at least an interface for connection tothis local network (IEEE 1394 bus 104 in FIG. 1).

In this embodiment, it is assumed that the need to communicate with thatanother device arises as the contents processing device connected to thelocal network has a need to obtain a permission for utilizing orprocessing contents which cannot be freely utilized or processed.

For example, suppose a case where the desired contents can be acquiredbut there is a need to satisfy a certain condition in order to applysome processing to the contents at that contents processing device. Morespecifically, for instance, it can be a case where a permission by aspecific system or organization is necessary in order to carry out anyprocessing or some specific processing with respect to the contents(decryption of encrypted contents, display of displayable contents,execution of executable contents, for example), and there is a need toobtain the permission either for free or with some charge from thatspecific system or organization by carrying out a prescribed procedure(using communications in this example) if it has not obtained thepermission or else a valid period of the permission is limited and thereis a need to obtain the permission either for free or with some chargefrom that specific system or organization by carrying out a prescribedprocedure again when the valid period expires. In either case, it is acase where there can be a need to carry out communications for thepurpose of the prescribed procedure between the contents processingdevice and a server device or the like at the specific system ororganization in order to utilize or continue to utilize some contents.

Note that the contents information can be any of various types of datasuch as video images, still images, audio, video images or still imagesaccompanied by audio, text files, programs, etc., for example, and theutilization or the processing can be any of decrypting, replaying,displaying, reading, storing, copying, executing, etc., for example.Also, the permission can be one that can be obtained for some charge orone that can be obtained when there is a license contract, for example,which can be used in obtaining a license information (replay conditionto be described below, for example) for enabling the utilization or theprocessing of the contents.

The contents processing device to be connected to the home network (IEEE1394 bus) 104 as described above can be any of a variety of devices suchas computer, VTR, TV, etc., but the following description will bedirected to a specific case of using a DVD player 101 as shown in FIG.1.

Also, the following description will be directed to a specific casewhere a server device at the specific system or organization which is tobe a communication correspondent of this DVD player 101 is a licenseserver 103 as shown in FIG. 1.

In addition, the contents processing device (DVD player 101) carries outcommunications with the server device (license server 103) at thespecific system or organization through a network (external network)other than the local network (home network 104) according to the need,and the following description will be described to a specific case wherethis network other than the local network (home network) 104 is atelephone network 105 as shown in FIG. 1.

Namely, as shown in FIG. 1, the DVD player 101 is connected to the homenetwork 104, and the home network 103 is connected to the telephonenetwork 105 through a home gateway 102 which functions as a telephoneserver, while the license server 103 is also connected to the telephonenetwork 105 either directly or through other networks or gateways.

Note that the contents processing device (DVD player 101) to beconnected to the local network may or may not have an interface fordirect connection to a network other than the local network (thetelephone network 105 of FIG. 1). Here, even if it has an interface fordirect connection to a network other than the local network, it is notnecessary to have this interface actually connected.

Now, in the network system shown in FIG. 1, the DVD player 101establishes a connection with the license server 103 by making atelephone call, for example, according to the need, and carries outexchanges of a license information (replay condition to be describedbelow, for example) and a charging information if necessary. In thefollowing, this one embodiment will be described in detail in terms ofsuch a concrete example.

FIG. 2 shows an exemplary internal configuration of the DVD player 101according to this embodiment.

As shown in FIG. 2, this DVD player 101 comprises a telephone modem 201,an IEEE 1394 interface 202, an interface selection unit 203, a telephoneserver procedure unit 204, a license update procedure unit 205, alicense judgement unit 206, a DVD drive 207, an appending informationextraction unit 208, a contents extraction unit 209 and a decoder 210.

First, the hardware/software configuration of this DVD player 101 willbe described.

This DVD player 101 has a function for decrypting encrypted contentssuch that the encryption decrypted contents or information that can beused in obtaining the encryption decrypted contents easily will not bereceived. For example, a circuit portion of the DVD drive 207, theappending information extraction unit 208, the contents extraction unit209, the decoder 210, the license judgement unit 206 and the licenseupdate procedure unit 205 should preferably formed by semiconductorchips. For instance, the circuit portion of the DVD drive 207, theappending information extraction unit 208, and the contents extractionunit 209 can be formed by a single semiconductor chip (or the circuitportion of the DVD drive 207 can be formed independently), while thedecoder 201 can be formed by a single semiconductor chip, and thelicense judgement unit 206 and the license update procedure unit 205 canbe formed by a single semiconductor chip. Of course there are manypossible combinations of semiconductor chips other than this, and it ispossible to form each one of the six elements by a single semiconductorchip independently, and it is also possible to form all of the sixelements by a single semiconductor chip together.

Also, this DVD player 101 can be constructed using software within arange where the security can be ensured.

Also, this DVD player 101 can be configured either in a form of astand-alone DVD player or in a form of a DVD drive connected to acomputer. In the latter case, for example, a board mounted withsemiconductor chips on which circuits for realizing a part of thefunctions of this DVD player 101 is installed into the computer, while aprogram for realizing another part of the functions of this DVD player101 is installed into the computer by reading out a recording mediumrecording the program (or by connecting a ROM in which the program iswritten) and executed at a CPU of the computer. Else, the abovedescribed semiconductor chips are connected to a CPU bus of thecomputer.

In this embodiment, it is assumed as an example that at least thelicense Judgement unit 206 and the decoder 210 are to be provided onseparate chips, and at least the license Judgement unit 206 and thelicense update procedure unit 205 are to be provided on an identicalchip. For this reason, as described below, a contents key Kc that isnecessary in decrypting the encrypted contents will be exchanged in anencrypted form between the license judgement unit 206 and the decoder210.

Next, the structure and the operation of the DVD player 101 will bedescribed in detail.

As shown in FIG. 2, the DVD player 101 is provided with two networkinterfaces including the telephone modem 201 which is capable of makinga direct connection to the telephone network 105 and the IEEE 1394interface 202 which is capable of making a direct connection with thehome network (IEEE 1394) 104.

The interface selection unit 203 selects appropriate one of these twointerfaces which is actually connected to the network (the telephonemodem 201 is to be selected in the case where both of them are actuallyconnected), and supports communications by the license update procedureunit 205 through the telephone network 105 or the home network 104 (andthe home gateway 102 and the telephone network 105).

The telephone server procedure unit 204 functions to establish aconnection with the license server 103 as will be described in detaillater.

The DVD drive 207 is a disk drive for reading information from orwriting information into a DVD that is set thereon.

Here, the DVD (DVD-RAM, for example) to be set on the DVD drive 207 isassumed to have an exemplary configuration as shown in FIG. 3. Namely,the DVD records contents 301 such as video that is encrypted using thecontents key Kc in advance, and an appending information 302 that isencrypted using a master key Km.

Note that, in the following, data encrypted using a key Ki will bedenoted as [data]Ki. For example, the contents encrypted using thecontents key Kc will be denoted as [Contents]Kc, and the appendinginformation encrypted using the master key Km will be denoted as[Appending Information]Km.

In the exemplary configuration shown in FIG. 3, in order to decrypt theencryption of the contents, it is necessary to first decrypt theencrypted appending information [Appending Information]Km using themaster key Km so as to take out the contents key Kc 303 contained-inthis appending information, and then decrypt the encrypted contents[Contents]Kc using this contents key Kc.

This decryption of [Appending Information]Km is carried out at thelicense Judgement unit 206. Note that the master key Km for decryptingthe appending information 302 is assumed to be stored inside the licenseJudgement unit 206 within this DVD player 101 (for example, the licenseJudgement unit 206 itself is formed by a semiconductor chip and themaster key Km is concealed therein).

Namely, the master key Km and the appending information encrypted usingthe master key Km ([Appending Information]Km) are respectivelyincorporated into the DVD player and the DVD in advance duringmanufacturing processes of the DVD player and the DVD, and managedstrictly such that the master key Km which is the secret key or theencryption scheme using the master key Km will not be leaked out to theexternal.

As shown in FIG. 3, the appending information also contains a replaycondition 304. This replay condition 304 describes a condition to besatisfied in order to give a permission to the decryption of thecontents by the license Judgement unit 206.

This condition can be given in a variety of ways, but it is assumed thatthe replay condition 304 in this embodiment describes a time limit forpermitting the decryption of the contents (information on a last limitfor permitting the decryption such as “Dec. 31, 1999”, for example). Inother words, the DVD can be replayed (playbacked) as long as this replaycondition is satisfied, but the DVD cannot be replayed if this replaycondition is not satisfied. Note that, in this embodiment, the replay ismade impossible by making it impossible to decrypt the encryptedcontents unless the replay condition is satisfied.

Note also that, as will be described in detail later, even when thereplay condition is not satisfied, it becomes possible to replay the DVDagain by carrying out the license updating (by carrying outcommunications with the license server 103 through the telephone network105 in FIG. 1).

For this reason, it is possible to set this replay condition or theentire appending information in a RAM region so that it is rewritable bythe license Judgement unit 206, and rewrites the corresponding region bya new updated condition or the replay condition reflecting a new updatedcondition when the license updating is carried out. Here, however, thisregion should preferably be rewritable only by a special device such asthe license Judgement unit 206 and not rewritable by the general DVD-RAMdrive.

Now, in order to replay the contents recorded in the DVD that is set onthe DVD drive 207, first, the contents encrypted using the contents keyKc ([Contents]Kc) 301 and the appending information encrypted using themaster key Km ([Appending Information]Km) are extracted by the contentsextraction unit 209 and the appending information extraction unit 208,respectively.

The appending information encrypted using the master key Km ([AppendingInformation]Km) is then sent to the license judgement unit 206. Thislicense judgement unit 206 has the master key Km stored therein asdescribed above, and takes out the appending information (the contentskey Kc, the replay condition, and the license server address in the caseof FIG. 3) by decrypting the encrypted appending information [AppendingInformation]Km using the master key Km.

Next, the license judgement unit 206 checks the replay condition withinthe decrypted appending information. The license judgement unit 206 hasa built-in clock therein, and checks the replay condition by judgingwhether it is within the valid period or not as described above, forexample.

When the replay condition is satisfied, the license judgement unit 206judges that the replay is permitted, and the contents key Kc decryptedusing the master key Km is given to the decoder 210 for the first timeat this point.

Note however that, as described above, in the case where there is apossibility for exchanging signals between the license judgement unit206 and the decoder 210 (in the case where the license judgement unit206 and the decoder 210 are formed by separate chips, for example), thecontents key Kc should preferably be exchanged in a form [Kc]Ktencrypted using a temporary key Kt that is agreed between the licensejudgement unit 206 and the decoder unit 210 in advance, so as to carryout the exchange of the contents key Kc between the license judgementunit 206 and the decoder 210 safely.

Namely, in this case, the license judgement unit 206 first encrypts thecontents key Kc using the temporary key Kt and then gives this [Kc]Kt tothe decoder 210, such that the decoder 210 obtains the contents key Kcby decrypting this [Kc]Kt using the temporary key Kt.

When the contents key Kc is obtained from the license Judgement unit206, the decoder 210 decrypts the encrypted contents [Contents]Kcentered from the contents extraction unit 209 using this contents keyKc. Then, the decoder 210 applies a necessary processing such asdecoding to the decrypted contents, and outputs them as video signals oraudio signals, for example.

Note that the function of this decoder 210 can be set in a variety ofways. For example, when the contents are encrypted after being encodedby MPEG2 or the like, the decoder 210 can decrypt and decode[Contents]Kc and output them after the conversion into. NTSC signals orelse output them in a state of being encoded by MPEG2 or the like. Also,when the contents are image data, the decoder 210 can output them afterthe conversion into bit map data.

When the replay condition is not satisfied as a result of checking thereplay condition at the license Judgement unit 206 (the case where thevalid period has expired in this example), it implies that the licenseis not valid (the license has expired in this example). For this reason,the license Judgement unit 206 displays a message indicating that thelicense has expired, for example, and upon obtaining a permission of auser by receiving an input of a command indicating that the licenseupdating is to be carried out from the user, the license judgement unit206 attempts to update the license. Here however, when a commandindicating that the license updating is not to be carried out is enteredfrom the user, the processing regarding these contents will beterminated at this point.

Next, the case where the replay condition is not satisfied as a resultof checking the replay condition at the license Judgement unit 206 andthe license is to be updated will be described.

When the license is to be updated, the actual license update procedureis carried out by the license update procedure unit 205.

First, the license update procedure unit 205 checks the license serveraddress 305 in the appending information 302 decrypted at the licenseJudgement unit 206, where an address of the license server to beaccessed in the case of carrying out the license updating is described.

FIG. 4 shows an exemplary format of the license server addressdescription. In FIG. 4, the license server address comprises an addresstype section and an address section. The address type section describesa name of address system to be used (or a name of network system usingthat address system) such as telephone number (or telephone network), IPaddress, ATM address, JAVA name space, CORBA name space, or domain name,for example. The address section describes the actual address. Note thatthis description may be standardized using URL (Uniform ResourceLocator). Note also that, in FIG. 4, the license server addresses may bedescribed in their priority orders, in which case the address givencloser to the top should be tried earlier.

In this embodiment, a connection with one of the addresses described inthe license server address 305 in the appending information 302 isestablished and the license update procedure using a prescribed protocolis carried out between the license server and this DVD player 101.

Here, when this DVD player 101 is assumed to be not having the IPprotocol as a protocol stack, it is impossible to carry outcommunications using IP addresses, so that the telephone number is to beselected. Else, in the case of trying the license server address closerto the top earlier in FIG. 4, the telephone number is going to beselected first.

Now the license update procedure unit 205 refers to this information ofthe license server address and select one, and then gives the selectedaddress information to the telephone server procedure unit 204 so as torequest the connection set up.

Upon receiving this request for connection set up, the telephone serverprocedure unit 204 attempts to establish the connection with the licenseserver 103 according to a prescribed procedure. FIG. 5 shows anexemplary connection set up procedure by the telephone server procedureunit 204.

The telephone server procedure unit 204 first checks whether thetelephone modem is connected to the own device or not and whether thetelephone cable is connected to that telephone modem or not, in anattempt to directly make a telephone call to the described telephonenumber (step S501).

If the telephone modem 201 is connected to the own device and thetelephone cable is connected to the telephone modem 201 so that thetelephone network 105 is utilizable (step S501 YES), the telephoneserver procedure unit 204 attempts to establish the telephone connectionwith the license server 103 through the telephone modem 201, and whenthe connection is established, the license update procedure unit 205carries out communications with the license server 103 through theinterface selection unit 203, the telephone modem 201 and the telephonenetwork 105, so as to carry out the license update procedure accordingto a protocol determined between the DVD player 101 and the licenseserver 103 in advance (step S502).

If the telephone modem 201 is not connected, or the telephone cable isnot connected to the telephone modem 201, or else the telephone modem201 is not connected to the telephone network 105 (step S501 NO), thetelephone server procedure unit 204 checks whether the 1394 cable isconnected to the IEEE 1394 interface 202, in an attempt to establish theconnection using the telephone server (step S503).

If the 1394 cable is not connected to the IEEE 1394 interface 202, itimplies that the DVD player 101 cannot make an access to the licenseserver 103, so that it is Judged that the communications with thelicense server 103 are impossible and therefore the license updating isabandoned, and the fact that the updating is impossible (or a messagefor urging the user to connect the telephone cable or the 1394 cable) isnotified to the user (step S505).

If the 1394 cable is connected (step S503 YES), whether the telephoneserver (whose function is provided by the home gateway 102 in thisembodiment) exists on this IEEE 1394 bus or not is investigated. As willbe described later, this investigation as to whether or not thetelephone server exists can be realized by reading the IEEE 1212register of a device on the IEEE 1394 bus or by executing the servicelocation protocol (step S506).

This telephone server is connected with both the home network 104 andthe telephone network 105, and mediates communications between a deviceconnected to the home network 104 and a device connected at a locationthat can be reached through the telephone network 105. Namely, thistelephone server provides a mechanism for transparently realizing datacommunications between a device connected to the telephone network 105either directly or through other networks (the license server 103 inthis embodiment) and a device connected to the home network 104 (the DVDplayer 101 in this embodiment). The further detail of this telephoneserver will be described later.

If the telephone server does not exist on the IEEE 1394 bus (step S504NO), similarly as in the case of step S503 NO described above, itimplies that the DVD player 101 cannot make an access to the licenseserver 103, so that it is judged that the communications with thelicense server 103 are impossible and therefore the license updating isabandoned, and the fact that the updating is impossible (or a messagefor urging the user to connect the telephone cable or activate thetelephone server) is notified to the user (step S505).

If the telephone server exists on the IEEE 1394 bus (step S504 YES), thetelephone server procedure unit 204 requests the home gateway 102 toestablish the connection with the license server 103 through the IEEE1394 interface 202 and the IEEE 1394 bus 104, and when the connection isestablished, the license update procedure unit 205 carries outcommunications with the license server 103 through the interfaceselection unit 203, the IEEE 1394 interface 202, the IEEE 1394 bus 104and the home gateway 102, so as to carry out the license updateprocedure (step S506).

Note that the concrete contents of the license update procedure dependson the license server, but basically, the license update procedureincludes exchanging an information for the charging or the licensecontract and receiving an information for enabling the utilization orthe processing of the contents such as a new replay condition in thecase of this embodiment.

Now, after the license update procedure is completed as described above,the fact that the license updating is completed as well as a new replaycondition are notified from the license update procedure unit 205 to thelicense judgement unit 206.

Then, the license judgement unit 206 carries out a processing forupdating the replay condition for this DVD to the new replay condition.For example, the item regarding the replay condition among the appendinginformation read out from the DVD on the DVD drive 207 and decrypted isrewritten according to the updating made with the license server, andthe appending information after this updating is encrypted using themaster key Km and stored into an appropriate region in the DVD again.Else, this updated information is stored by this DVD player 101 itselfsuch that the replay condition is Judged according to this updatedreplay condition whenever the same DVD (having the same disk ID forexample) is set on the DVD drive 207 subsequently.

Also, the license judgement unit 206 permits the replay, and gives thecontents key Kc decrypted using the master key Km to the decoder 210.Then, as described above, the decoder 210 decrypts the encryptedcontents [Contents]Kc using the received contents key Kc, decodes thesecontents if necessary, and output them as video signals or audiosignals, for example.

Next, with references to FIG. 6, FIG. 7 and FIG. 8, the communicationsequence will be described. FIG. 6 shows an exemplary communicationsequence, FIG. 7 shows an exemplary operation sequence of the DVDplayer, and FIG. 8 shows an exemplary operation sequence of the homegateway.

This communication sequence is executed in the case of where the DVDplayer 101 carries out communications with the license server 103through the telephone server (i.e., the home gateway 102) in the abovedescribed procedure. Namely, it is the case where the DVD player 101wishes to communicate with the license server 103 through the homegateway 102 and carry out the license update procedure.

First, the DVD player 101 reads and checks the contents of the IEEE 1212register of a device existing on the IEEE 1394 bus 104, so as to detecta device having the function of the telephone server (step S601 of FIG.6, step S701 of FIG. 7). Here it is assumed that the address of the IEEE1212 register is determined among devices connected to the IEEE 1394 busin advance and the IEEE 1212 register registers information regardingfunctions of that device or services provided by that device. Note thatthis detection can also be realized by using the service locationprotocol instead of using the IEEE 1212 register as described above. Theservice location protocol is a protocol for detecting or notifying acertain service on the network in the protocol such as Internetprotocol. The detail of the service location protocol can be found inRFC 2165.

As for the home gateway 102, the fact that the own device functions asthe telephone server is registered into the IEEE 1212 register inadvance by a procedure as shown in FIG. 9. Namely, when a telephoneserver process is activated on the own device and a telephone cable isconnected to a telephone network interface (telephone modem) of the owndevice so that communications with the telephone network 105 is possible(steps S901 and S902), it is Judged that the own device is capable ofoperating as the telephone server, and the fact that the own device hasa function of the telephone server is registered into the own IEEE 1212register (step S801 of FIG. 8, step S903 of FIG. 9).

By registering the fact that the own device functions as the telephoneserver in the IEEE 1212 register in this way, it becomes possible tonotify the fact that the own device functions as the telephone server todevices connected to the IEEE 1394 bus 104.

Now, when the existence of the telephone server (the home gateway 102has the function of the telephone server in this embodiment) on the IEEE1394 bus 104 is recognized (step S702 of FIG. 7), the DVD player 101makes a telephone call to the address (telephone number) of the licenseserver that is read out from the appending information earlier, in anattempt to carry out the license update procedure. In order to attemptthis through the IEEE 1394 bus 104 which is the home network, the DVDplayer 101 sends a call set up solicitation to the home gateway 102(step S602 of FIG. 6, step S704 of FIG. 7). This call set upsolicitation implies soliciting the home gateway 102 like “please make atelephone call to the telephone number #X with respect to the telephonenetwork”.

Also, in order to carry out communications through a telephone channelestablished in response to this solicitation subsequently, a transactionnumber is also defined at the same time, in a sense of naming thistelephone channel (or session). Namely, the information indicatingaddress type=POTS (Plain Old Telephone System: telephone network),address=#x, and transaction number=α is transferred from the DVD player101 to the home gateway 102.

Upon receiving the call set up solicitation (step S802 of FIG. 8), thehome gateway 102 sends a call set up request to the telephone network105 based on this solicitation (step S603 of FIG. 6, step S803 of FIG.8). This call set up request is made with respect to the telephonenumber contained in the call set up solicitation received earlier.

When this call set up succeeds, a call set up success (CONNECT) messageis returned from the telephone network 105 side (step S604 of FIG. 6).

Upon receiving the call set up success message (step S804 of FIG. 8),the home gateway 102 notifies the successful connection with the licenseserver 103 to the DVD player 101 along with the transaction number (α)(step S605 of FIG. 6, step S806 of FIG. 8).

Upon receiving this notification (step S605 of FIG. 6, step S705 of FIG.7), the DVD player 101 carries out communications regarding the licenseupdating with the license server 103 according to a protocol proceduredetermined between the DVD player 101 and the license server 103 inadvance (step S606 of FIG. 6, step S707 of FIG. 7, steps S807 and S808of FIG. 8). Here, in the communications regarding the license updateprocedure, data to be exchanged should preferably be encrypted using anetwork key Kn. This network key Kn is an encryption key that is agreedbetween the DVD player 101 and the license server 103 in advance. Notethat this network key Kn is assumed to be a secret key here, but it isalso possible to use a public key.

In the case of carrying out data exchange between the DVD player 101 andthe license server 103, the home gateway (telephone server) 102 carriesout the modem processing as indicated in FIG. 6.

Namely, data to be transmitted from the DVD player 101 to the licenseserver 103 are sent as ordinary digital signals according to the IEEE1394 standard up to the home gateway 102. Then, at the home gateway 102,these signals are modulation processed and sent through the telephonenetwork 105 so as to carry out communications with the license server103. As for data to be transmitted from the license server 103 to theDVD player 101, the modulated telephone signals are sent through thetelephone network 105 up to the home gateway 102. Then, at the homegateway 102, these signals are demodulated and sent to the DVD player101 as IEEE 1394 signals.

Here, from a viewpoint of the DVD player 101 and the license server 103,it appears that a protocol for carrying out the license update procedureis operating and a difference in the physical layers such as the abovedescribed modem processing is concealed. In other words, a difference inthe physical layers is concealed by inserting the modem processingbetween the physical layers at the home gateway 102.

Note that, when the DVD player 101 fails to detect the telephone serverfunction on the IEEE 1394 bus 104, the DVD player 101 cannot make atelephone call so that the communications with the license server 103become impossible and the processing is terminated there (step S703 ofFIG. 7).

Also, when the call set up at the home gateway 102 fails, the homegateway notifies the DVD player 101 that the further processing isimpossible (step S805 of FIG. 8), and when this notification isreceived, the DVD player 101 also cannot make a telephone call so thatthe processing is terminated there (step S706 of FIG. 7).

Next, FIG. 10 shows an exemplary internal configuration of the homegateway 102 for providing the service as described above.

As shown in FIG. 10, the home gateway 102 comprises an IEEE 1394interface 1001, a service notification unit 1002, a filter unit 1003, atelephone server unit 1004, a data modulation/demodulation unit 1005,and a telephone network interface 1006.

The function of the home gateway 102 as the telephone server iscontained in the telephone server unit 1004, that is, the telephoneserver unit 1004 controls the sequence of FIG. 8.

The IEEE 1394 interface 1001 is an interface to the IEEE 1394 bus 104,and the telephone network interface 1006 is an interface to thetelephone network 105.

The service notification unit 1002 has a function for notifying that theown device has the function of the telephone server, through the IEEE1394 interface 1001, which is realized by the IEEE 1212 register in thisembodiment.

The data modulation/demodulation unit 1005 carries out the modemprocessing shown in FIG. 6.

The filter unit 1003 extracts the license update procedure data amongdata entered through the IEEE 1394 interface 1001, and shares theextracted license update procedure data with the datamodulation/demodulation unit 1005.

Under the control of the telephone server unit 1004, the transparentdata communications between the DVD player 101 and the license server103 are provided by the operation of the filter unit 1003 and the datamodulation/demodulation unit 1005.

In this way, the DVD player becomes capable of carrying outcommunications with the license server on the public network. Namely, itbecomes possible for this DVD player to carry out communications withthe license server on the public network without directly connecting thetelephone line to the DVD player, so that it becomes unnecessary todirectly connect the telephone line to the DVD player as requiredconventionally. Consequently, when the wirings for the IEEE 1394 areprovided and the telephone server (the home gateway 102 in thisembodiment) exists on the IEEE 1394, it is unnecessary to providewirings for the telephone line so that a considerable simplification ofwirings becomes possible.

Now, in the description up to this point, it has been assumed that theprotocol for the license update procedure to be used is a protocol thatis agreed between the DVD player 101 and the license server 103 inadvance. In this case, there is a need to activate the common protocolfor the license update procedure at every DVD player.

For this reason, as shown in FIG. 11, it is also possible to include theprotocol program for the license update procedure (communicationprotocol program for license server) 1106 in the appending informationthat is contained in the DVD, in an expectation of a presence of acommon interface such as JAVA virtual machine in the DVD player. In sucha case, it becomes possible to select the license update procedureprotocol for each license server, by downloading the above describedprotocol program for the license update procedure that is contained inthe appending information of the DVD into the JAVA virtual machine andletting this program to carry out the license update procedure when thelicense update procedure becomes necessary. In this case, this protocolprocessing program will be described in JAVA, and this processingprotocol will be described using the standard API defined on the JAVAvirtual machine.

Also, as shown in FIG. 12, it is possible to provide a plurality ofprotocol processing programs written in a plurality of programminglanguages, and change the program to be downloaded depending on thesoftware platform of the DVD player. In FIG. 12, the protocol processingprograms are written in the programming languages such as JAVA andvisual basic script so that it is possible to deal with the case wherethe software platform of the DVD player is the JAVA virtual machine aswell as the case where the software platform of the DVD player is a PCmounted with the Windows which is the OS of the Microsoft Corporation.In this way, even in the case where it is not necessarily possible toexpect the unification of the software platform as in the case of PCs,it becomes possible to provide a plurality of programs so that theflexible handling becomes possible.

Also, as shown in FIG. 13, it is possible to leave the license serveraddress in plaintext without encrypting it and attach an authenticator1306 for this address in order to prove the authenticity of thisaddress. Namely, an information obtained by encrypting the licenseserver address or the “digest information” produced by applying the hashfunction such as MD5 to the license server address, using the master keyKm for example, can be attached to the license server address 1305 asthe authenticator 1306.

The processing for recognizing the license server address at the DVDplayer at a time of playbacking the DVD can be as follows, for example.

First, the authentication scheme is assumed to be agreed between the DVDmanufactures and the DVD players in advance. Here, the DVD player takesout the license server address 1305 of the appending information 1302,and executes a procedure that is agreed upon in advance (such as aprocedure for generating the authenticator from the license serveraddress as described above). When the result is identical to the valueof the address authenticator 1306, it is recognized that this addressinformation is surely a proper one, and the address information writtentherein is recognized as the license server address. The reason why thisaddress information can be recognized as a proper one is that it ispossible to interpret that this authenticator can be produced only bysomeone who knows the value of the master key Km, so that it is possibleto interpret that someone who is capable of knowing the master key Km inadvance and therefore trustworthy has produced this license serveraddress 1305.

Note that the above description has been directed to the case where theDVD player has an architecture having both the public network interface(telephone modem 201) and the local network interface (IEEE 1394interface 202) as shown in FIG. 2, but it is also possible to use aconfiguration which only has the local network interface 202 and doesnot have the public network interface as shown in FIG. 14, for example.In other words, this is a configuration in which the operation startsfrom the step S503 of FIG. 5 as it only has the IEEE 1394 interfacealone. In this configuration, it is unnecessary to provide the publicnetwork interface so that the manufacturing cost can be reducedconsiderably.

Note also that the above description has been directed to the case ofusing the DVD player as an example, but the present invention is equallyapplicable to the variety of other devices such as VTR, TV, computer,etc.

Note also that the above description has been directed to the case wherethe device such as DVD player is directly connected to the localnetwork, but the present invention is equally applicable to the casewhere the device such as DVD player is connected to the local networkindirectly through another local network instead of being directlyconnected to the local network.

Note also that the above description has been directed to the case ofusing the IEEE 1394 as the local network, but it is also possible to useany other network such as Ethernet, ATM-LAN, power line network, radionetwork, etc.

Note also that the above description has been directed to the case ofusing the telephone network as the network other than the local network,but it is also possible to use any other network such as another localnetwork, another public network, Internet, PC network, etc.

Note also that the above description has been directed to the case ofusing the DVD as a storage medium, but the present invention is equallyapplicable to any other storage media.

Note also that the above description has been directed to the case ofgiving permission for the contents utilization per disk, but it is alsopossible to control the utilization and carry out the procedure forobtaining a permission per content within the disk.

Note also that the above description has been directed to the case ofcarrying out the encryption and the decryption using the master key Km,but it is also possible to use any key other than the master key Km aslong as it is agreed between the suppliers of the DVD or the like andthe DVD player or the like in advance. It is also obviously possible touse the public key cryptosystem. The present invention is alsoapplicable to the case where a plurality of contents are stored in onestorage medium and the encryption using different keys is to be appliedto different contents. The present invention is also applicable to thecase where a plurality of contents are stored in one storage medium anddifferent replay conditions are given to different contents. Also, inthe case of using the authenticator as shown in FIG. 14, it is possibleto use different keys for the encryption of the contents and thegeneration of the authenticator.

As described, according to the present invention, the contentsprocessing device connected to the external network such as thetelephone network solicits the mediation of communications through theexternal network to the gateway device which is located on the localnetwork such as the home network and which is connected to the externalnetwork, such that the contents processing device can carry outcommunications through the external network even when the contentsprocessing device has no interface to the external network.

Also, as a consequence, the wirings and the network interface to beprovided in the contents processing device for this purpose can be onlythose related to the local network so that it is possible to simplifythe wirings and the contents processing device configuration.

It is to be noted that, besides those already mentioned above, manymodifications and variations of the above embodiments may be madewithout departing from the novel and advantageous features of thepresent invention. Accordingly, all such modifications and variationsare intended to be included within the scope of the appended claims.

1. A gateway device, comprising: a first network interface forconnection to a home network; a second network interface for connectionto a telephone network; a call set up unit for carrying out a call setup with respect to a specified address on the telephone network, uponreceiving a solicitation for the call set up with respect to thespecified address on the telephone network from a contents processingdevice connected to the home network, the contents processing devicebeing in a state not capable of carrying out direct communicationstrough the telephone network, and the specified address indicating anaddress information of a server device to be communicated with by thecontents processing device in order to obtain a permission regardingcontents information utilization; and a transfer unit for transferringdata transmitted from the contents processing device to a connectionestablished by the call set up, and data arriving from the connectionestablished by the call set up to the contents processing device, suchthat the contents processing device carries out a prescribed procedurefor obtaining the permission from the server device through theconnection established by the gateway device in response to thesolicitation by the contents processing device.
 2. The gateway device ofclaim 1, wherein the call set up unit receives the solicitation made bythe contents processing device which has a need to communicate with thespecified address in order to process a specific contents information.3. The gateway device of claim 1, further comprising: a notificationunit for notifying that the gateway device is in a state capable ofresponding to the solicitation, through the home network.
 4. A contentsprocessing device, comprising: a home network interface for connectionto a home network; a protocol processing unit for executing protocolprocessing for communications with a server device through a telephonenetwork; a solicitation unit for soliciting a set up of connection tothe server device through the telephone network, to a gateway devicewhich is connected with both the home network and the telephone network,by using the home network interface when the contents processing deviceis in a state not capable of carrying out direct communications throughthe telephone network; an information processing unit for processingcontents information obtained by the communications with the serverdevice through the gateway device and the home network interface; and anextraction unit for extracting an address information of the serverdevice to be communicated with in order to obtain a permission regardingcontents information utilization, wherein the solicitation unit solicitsthe set up of connection to the server device according to the addressinformation extracted by the extraction unit, and the protocolprocessing unit carries out a prescribed procedure for obtaining thepermission from the server device through the connection established bythe gateway device in response to a solicitation by the solicitationunit.
 5. The contents processing device of claim 4, wherein the protocolprocessing unit carries out said prescribed procedure using thecommunications with the server device in order to obtain a permission toprocess a specific contents information, when a need to obtain apermission to process the specific contents information arises.